This invention relates generally to the field of engines and more particularly to the conversion of reciprocating motion of a piston into rotary motion of a drive shaft.
Internal combustion engines and other types of reciprocating piston engines conventionally have connecting rods, a crankshaft and related mechanical components which translate the reciprocating motion of a piston into rotation of the drive shaft of the engine. These components are subject to the usual problems that are inherently associated with mechanical parts, and they add significantly to the high construction and maintenance costs of engines and to operational and performance inefficiencies.
The present invention is aimed at eliminating these problems and has, as its primary goal, the provision of a hydraulic device which efficiently converts reciprocating piston motion into rotary motion while avoiding the use of connecting rods, crankshafts, and the associated mechanical linkages that are typical of existing engines. Replacing the crankshaft is a hydraulically driven rotor having a special construction which permits it to be rotated by one or more reciprocating pistons without any direct mechanical connection between the pistons and rotor.
More specifically, the rotor has a specially formed periphery which is sealed to the machined rotor. The peripheral surface of the rotor has a series of vanes on one half and open passages on the other half offset from the vanes. During the compression stroke of the piston, the open passages register with an opening in the base end of the cylinder, and hydraulic fluid carried within the rotor is forced into the cylinder by the centrifical force resulting from turning of the rotor. During the power stroke of the piston, another opening in the base of the cylinder registers with the vaned area of the rotor, and the fluid in the cylinder is then forcefully directed against the vanes to drive the rotor. The apparatus further includes a cam and associated spring loaded linkage that mechanically force the piston to the bottom dead center position at the end of each power stroke. The hydraulic fluid which is directed against the vanes is circulated back into the rotor after being cooled in a radiator or other cooling device.